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The Brain: Use it or lose it.

© Debbie St. Germain

People once thought that evil spirits caused diseases of the brain and mental illness. To cure their patients, physicians would drill a hole in the victim's brain. This was so the evil spirits would depart from the brain of the victim.

Ancient physicians believed it was the heart, not the brain that controlled the body's functions. The movements of our legs and arms were thought to be the result of animal spirits.

In some places people had cultural beliefs concerning brains of the deceased. In Africa, warriors kept the heads of those they killed in battle. This was supposed to give them special powers.

In the 1500s a French anatomist named Andreas Vesalius helped to change the superstitious beliefs concerning the brain. He was the one who suggested it was our brain, not our heart, that controlled our body. This was the beginning of more scientific studies of the brain, Neuroscience.

In fact, our brain controls all of our bodily functions, even ones we are not aware of - functions going on when we are talking, walking or sleeping. Your brain is what makes you know what words to say or to lift your foot when you reach a curb. Some of these are learned from birth, such as language skills or that the stove is hot. Others are reflexes, like when you withdraw your hand from that hot stove.

Those are things your brain controls in your outside world, but there are just as many things going on inside your body. Your brain sends messages to your heart and lungs so they will function properly. In turn the lungs supply the brain with oxygen and the heart gives your brain its blood supply. The brain uses 20% of the oxygen consumed by the lungs and 17% of the blood pumped from the heart goes to the brain.

The main center of activity is in the part of your brain called the cerebrum. It is where your thinking, learning and memories are established. The main difference between humans and animals is that a human's cerebrum is more developed then animals.

Your cerebrum is split into 2 hemispheres, each a mirror image of the other. Folds and grooves called convolutions make up the outer covering. This allows the brain to hold more nerve cells then if the brain had a smooth surface. This is one possible reason why humans are capable of intelligent thought. Exercising your mind will put your cerebrum into action.

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